


Sephiroth (child) - Memory of a Monster

by goddamnitaisha



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-12-07 17:24:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11628333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goddamnitaisha/pseuds/goddamnitaisha
Summary: Child Sephiroth hides from Dr. Hojo and meets locked-up Vincent Valentine.





	Sephiroth (child) - Memory of a Monster

\- "Sephiroth!“ 

Upon hearing the voice, the child’s breath hitched in his throat from panic. The boy jumped and hid behind a stack of boxes filled with books and knelt down. He pulled the tail of his adult-sized labcoat over his cold feet. Maybe running away hadn’t been such a good idea after all?

He listened.

His own breathing was the loudest sound and his air made tiny clouds. Each cloud gained a strange green hue from the only light source in the room: a tube with green light and a person in there. Bubbles ran past the man’s face. Sephiroth hadn’t seen people in tubes before, but the person had his eyes closed, so maybe it was okay he was hiding here?

_ It looks like he’s sleeping. _

Maybe for as long as Sephiroth was extra quiet, he wouldn’t wake the man up. Then Doctor Hojo wouldn’t come in but go to the next room and never find him. 

The child turned his head and listened: The water tube’s equipment made a soft humming noise. The bubbled in the tube rose to the surface. The Doctor’s footsteps scuffled over the dark tiles, then those feet stopped. 

_ He’s inside! Will he turn around? Will he go away? Please go away. _

Sephiroth ducked even lower and pressed his cheeks between his knees. He wrapped his arms around his legs to hug himself. He looked at his toes and with his breath, breathing out hard and quick, he tried to warm up his toes. His big toe pressed in the join between two tiles. He reached down and pulled the sleeve of the oversized lab coat back over his wrist so his hand came out. With a finger he scraped some of the mortar away. He trailed his finger over the stone in a few neat lines. He could draw like this. It had been a while since he had touched anything like sand grains. In the mansion, he mostly stayed indoors and those floors were wooden. The shiny house had gleaming white floors. Most of the plants that were brought into the laboratory had been washed completely clean. Last week had been the first time he had encountered a plant with a sick leaf. It had been quickly taken away. Where did plants usually go when they were taken away? He should ask Professor Gast, but he hadn’t seen him in weeks. Sephiroth missed him. But as for his less friendly colleague…

_ Is Doctor gone? _

He popped his head over the boxes. The silver locks gleamed in the light. He pushed them out of his face. When he could see, he gasped quietly.

The doctor was in the room and staring up to the sleeping man!

Sephiroth ducked lower and made himself as small as possible. He stopped breathing because it made so much noise. He pinched his nose and tried to stay completely still: any move and he’d be found, he was sure of it. His chest got warm. Air made his cheeks expand but he pushed it down again, until the air became a fist and pushed itself up. He had to breathe. He closed his eyes.  _ No no no no. I mustn't breathe! He mustn’t notice me! _

He couldn’t hold it any longer. He squeezed his eyes shut

He breathed.

_ \- ” _ There you are!“

The voice made his heart jump. His tummy clenched. It felt awful, like he felt during tests. The adrenaline was rocking through his body. He wanted to run the tension off. He wanted to jump and go and fly. If only he could fly… he would fly around the whole yard if he could. He was neck-deep in trouble.  

\- "Boy, get up.”

Sephiroth stood up. He straightened his shoulders, but they sagged quickly. He slumped a little forward like his teacher did because he wanted to look like him, but also because he kind of felt guilty. No, mainly because he felt guilty.

-“Why, were you trying run away?”

The child ducked his head between his shoulders. “Because I don’t like the tests.”

\- “Hah! Explain to me, why not?”

He felt so small, so insignificant. He could never do anything right around this man. "Because… they… ask so many questions.“

No, he didn’t know where the Promised Land was. Yes, he liked materia but no, he couldn’t use Cure. No, he didn’t know why. Yes, he could only use Fire and Blizzard and Thunder. Yes, touching Mako made him feel funny. They had so many questions. They got annoyed so easily. But how was he supposed to know the answers? Why did they ask him? They didn’t have the answers either!

And if Doctor Hojo didn’t know, then no one in the world knew. Doctor Hojo knew everything. He had said so himself. 

"Then try to answer them. For once!” Doctor Hojo said. “Yes, at least try to. High-Command is panting in my neck. I need  _ results _ or you’ll be shipped off to Banora.”

\- "What is a Banora?“

"That is the place where the failures go. So, boy! I need you to-” he grabbed Sephiroth’s shoulder. His pale fingers dug into the boy’s oversized lab coat to steer the youngster to the exit. But barely a second after initiating the physical contact the man in the tube changed form. 

Bubbles exploded around him. When they disappeared, the man had turned into a beast. It beat its claws against the glass. Its eyes were yellow and it had wings and a mask. It looked nothing like the calmly sleeping man from before. 

Doctor Hojo jumped several feet away. He stumbled, his back hit the computer box. His hands scrambled over the keyboard to find something to hold on to. One knee lifted. 

“Doctor?” The child had stayed perfectly still. 

“Hah!” Hojo returned to his senses. He laughed like knelling church bells. “Hah-ah-ha!”

\- “I…. don’t understand what is funny.”

\- “Look at him, boy. That… pitiful mutt.”

Sephiroth turned and looked at the monster raging against the glass, battling the current of the green water. It was big. It was angry. 

Doctor Hojo slid off the keyboard, straightened his tie. He walked forward to Sephiroth. 

“This,” he said, “…is a monster. It’s the worst and the meanest. And see what you did?  _ You _ provoked him, child.”

Sephiroth’s eyes grew wide and his gaze snapped from the monster to Hojo and back.

\- “If you run off again, he might catch you. Do not run off again.”

\- “No, Doctor.”

“Or he’ll catch you,” doctor Hojo warned. “…and tear you apart. Take a good look at that claw. Remember this specimen. Hate it.”

“The name of his monster ‘Valentine,’ after the martyr saint who was forgotten everywhere but in name. Ironic, huh?  _ No one _ could ever love him,” Doctor Hojo sneered. “After all, no one can love a  _ monster.” _

\- “You don’t look like the Valentine. But people call you a monster. Does no one love you?”

Doctor Hojo was quiet for a moment. He didn’t say anything. He just pushed his hands into his pockets and stared at the tube-man’s feet. Then: “Who calls me a monster?”

\- “Your assistant.”

\- “Which, the one with the ponytail?”

Sephiroth said nothing.  _ He’s nice to me.  _

\- “Huh, I guess there’s some sense in him. But he’s useless. And a liar. Don’t talk to him any more.”

\- “I won’t, Doctor.”

_ …So lying is bad. No one may talk to liars. Liars will be ignored.  _

Sephiroth’s social lessons always came in this form.

\- “Take a look at Valentine.”

Sephiroth looked up. The monster towered over the both of them. It still hadn’t turned back into the shape of the peacefully sleeping man with the red cape. Instead, it had just closed its eyes. 

\- “He will eat you up.”

The silver-haired boy shuddered and reached for Hojo. 

The gesture had an immediate effect. The angry bright yellow predator eyes snapped open and focused on just the child. 

Sephiroth stopped.  _ Will he really eat me?  _ He stepped back and curled his fist under his chin.  _ If Doctor says it, it is true. _

His bottom lip trembled. So did his knees. “…I don’t want to get eaten.”

When he looked to the side the Doctor was gone. A sudden wave of panic struck him. It made his tummy clench in fear. Had the monster eaten him?

The child looked around. The Doctor wasn’t at his left side. He wasn’t at his right. The monster moved! Doctor Hojo still wasn’t on his left. Sephiroth over his shoulder. 

There he was. 

The child almost collapsed in relief as he found Doctor Hojo bend over the computer. He re-booted it.

The boy looked at the beast. He strode to his guide and put his hands on the edge of the desk, peering over it. 

\- “Doc…tor?" 

\- "Quiet.”

The doctor’s fingers hammered over the keys. He changed the settings of the mako pod. 

Sephiroth looked over his shoulder to the moving monster. Its wings flapped.  _ It can’t get out, can it? _

The computer screen flashed green with the letters OK. 

Doctor Hojo turned around. He looked over Sephiroth’s head, to Valentine. He was a warrior in white, just missing the angel wings. He was a worthy opponent for the monster. He pushed his glasses further up his nose, and they caught the light. 

“I’ll protect you, child,” Hojo smiled. “If you protect me." 

\- "How can I protect you? You’re invincible.”

\- "That, I am. But help me by telling us more about the Promised Land.“

Sephiroth was quiet for a moment. And then he asked: "Doctor?”

\- "Yes?“

\- "Are there monsters in the Promised Land?”

\- "Think for yourself. Do you think there are?“

\- "No… no, I think not.”

A smile crept on the adult’s face.

\- "Doctor?“

\- "Yes?”

\- "How can someone defeat a monster?“

"Hah! I found it… surprisingly easy. You point a gun at them, and pull the trigger to shoot. Always kill monsters, child. And if you ever see this one again, kill it. You-" he stopped speaking abruptly. Whatever he had been wanting to say, never followed. Instead he said sharply: ”…how did those  _ scratches _ get there?“

The fragile boy looked at his protector. Doctor glanced at the monster.

The child looked at the ground and saw the lines. 

"The mons-…” Sephiroth started, but he couldn’t lie. He had been taught not to lie because the consequences of telling a lie were far  _ far _ worse than telling the truth. 

_ Lying is bad. Liars get ignored. _

He didn’t want solitary confinement. Not tonight, not after having seen this horrible beast.

“…I." He swallowed. 

Hojo didn’t glance up. His fingers drummed on the computer keyboard.

Sephiroth dragged his toes in a crescent shape over the floor. He put his hands in his pockets, eyes on the floor. ”…  I did that. “

"You?” Hojo glanced at him. “Do it again.”

Sephiroth hunched. He rocked between his knees. He dragged a fingernail over the floor. A tiny scratch appeared. The stone split in half. 

\- "Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating.“

Sephiroth didn’t know if that was good or bad.

"Come on, let’s go back upstairs. Let’s put you in a simulator against an weakened Sahagin beast. Let’s see if you’re useful for something else than plucking flowers apart and chanting I-don’t-know.”

_ I must not be useless.  _

He caught up with the scientist.

_ I must learn.  _

He walked back.

_ I don’t want to be a failure. I must not fail.  _

\- "And Specimen?“

\- "Yes, Doctor?”

He followed doctor Hojo’s gaze over the crates of books, stacks of paper, to keyboard with a neatly folded up yellow ribbon.

\- “Don’t _ ever _ talk about this again.”

\- “No, Doctor.

\- ”… And don’t ever come here again.“

"No, Doctor,” he said. He slipped his tiny hand around two of the scientist’s thin fingers. 

The monster raged and raged against the glass as they walked away into the darkness to the next laboratory.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to comment!


End file.
